EDITORIAL: Shameless solicitations

Administrators' attempt to obtain more donations by soliciting on a web site is tacky. Posting on the Internet what University buildings are up "for sale" is not only asinine but ineffective, as no donations have been solicited as a result of the Web site. And because the site hasn't been updated since June, potential donors wouldn't know which rooms were still available even if they had visited the Web site. Soliciting donations from alumni is a way of life for educational institutions. But by creating a Web site expressly for this purpose, University administrators have created an undesirable way of getting money for Penn. It mocks and cheapens the whole process of obtaining contributions from potential donors. An alumni perusing the Web may be turned off from donating money when he or she sees such a shameless solicitation for money. And at this point, many of Penn's alumni who have money to donate are older and may not hop on the information superhighway as often as students do. If alumni is going to donate a substantial amount of money to Penn, they aren't going to search the Web for possibilities, but instead call the Alumni Relations office. Administrators need to realize there must be a more subtle way to reach alumni than this sketchy Web site.